The present invention relates generally to refrigerators of the type wherein the high-side portion of the refrigeration system is arranged in a machinery compartment which is generally isolated from the food storage compartment of the refrigerator.
In many refrigerators, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,352 Gelbard et al. assigned to the General Electric Company the assignee of the present invention, a motor compressor and a condenser are mounted in a machinery compartment at the bottom of a cabinet and a fan is provided for circulating air through the compartment and over the components. While the arrangement of locating the high-side refrigerator components in a single machinery compartment is an acceptable way of isolating the heat generating components from the food compartment being refrigerated, it has some drawbacks. Generally, it is desirable that the size of the machinery compartment is kept at a minimum so that maximum cabinet space may be devoted to the refrigerated storage portion of the cabinet. Placing all of the high-side components in a relatively small compartment poses certain manufacturing problems in securing individual components. In part, this has been solved in some instances by creating unitary assemblies such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,326, wherein the compressor, condenser and an air circulating means are mounted on a supporting member which is inserted into and removed from the refrigerator machinery compartment. It has also been common practice to direct condensate water from the evaporator which is located in the food storage compartment to a condensate collection pan located in the machinery compartment where it may be evaporated by the circulating warm air directed across the relatively warm high-side refrigerator components. Since the high-side components are cooled by circulating air through the machinery compartment, means such as baffling must be provided for insuring that substantially all of the air passing through the compartment is directed across the components. This generally requires the placement of baffles in the compartment relative to the fan so that incoming air is directed across the relatively warm operating components.